Antipathy
by LyrianFaust
Summary: Chara has always been the true monster in the underground, that much is Known. But sometimes, even a monster can be saved. It just takes a little love, and a hell of a lot of patience. Good thing her new family has just that. (Female Chara, Sorry-Not-Sorry, exploration story of her history.)
1. Chapter 1 Forsaken

**Authors Note:** EXTREMELY Headcanon-y backstory I've made up for Chara. Probably gonna be OOC, and I'm not exactly the most confident of writers so in my eyes its likely very badly written. Sorry. Updates will be slow.

Undertale does not belong to me, it belongs to Toby Fox.

Also rated M for swearing, slight gore in later chapters, and mentions of child abuse and Animal cruelty...and just a generally dark and murderous attitude sprinkled with random fluff? Seriously, its probably gonna be bad xD

* * *

 **Chapter One**

 **Forsaken/Macabre**

* * *

 **Antipathy**

 _Noun_

 _"A Deep seated feeling of dislike; Aversion."_

 _Synonym - Antagonism_

* * *

She doesn't really feel alone, not in her own home. Too many occupants, too little space, a cluster fuck of people enough to make her hate even the sound of _'home.'_ She knows she can leave any time she wants. There are other places she can be, her mothers for one, though the thought of traveling halfway across the country to stay with the wicked old bitch isn't at all appealing. No, its easier to stay put and keep her head down; the less attention she attracts the better.

This village - really just an informal gathering of people in the center of a large town - is a notorious den of pill heads and criminals alike. She stays away from them as best she can but its not easy when thats 80% of the town itself. The smell alone of this retched place is enough to drive her mad, always, always the stench of unwashed bodies and vomit in the air. No matter where she goes she can't escape it.

Chara lives in a apartment building of a sorts, if it were still the 1800s she might have called it a tenement but modern times have given it a more appealing name. Its still the same idea, a ton of people packed into a small building, paying rent out the wazoo just so they can stay close to work (and the drugs, but thats something only spoken about in hushed whispers.)

She hates it, everyone knows it. And for some reason they hate her. But its enough just to know that she is hated, she doesn't need to know the reason. Somewhere deep she knows why, knows that its because of all the things she has done.

It started as small things. Kicking a puppy, punching her sister, getting into it with a friend. It continued on, and on until the things she did wrong began to really worry people. Strangling a schoolyard bully to near death on her first day of second grade was the straw that broke the camels back. Her father - if one could in good conscious call him that - took it into his own hands to whip her into shape.

For the first few months she fought back, clawed and bit her way to even more punishment. Drawing blood just for the sake of seeing it drip from open wounds. He thought he could beat the demons out of her, he didn't know it only made them stronger. Chara knew though, she always knew.

* * *

There was only one thing that made it all better for Chara; the flowers. Beautiful golden flowers had made their home in the village. Stifled somewhat by the air pollution but she knew the locations of all the untouched fields where they grew by the dozens. Chara spent her time among the flowers, laying in the fields and staring up into the sky.

Sometimes she would stay out all night, daydreaming of a better place. A place where she wouldn't have to be afraid of every wrong move. Where she could tame her demons on her own, or perhaps let them grow. She never could quell the urges inside of her, screaming to cause chaos. To use her fists, nails, anything she could get her hands on to destroy everything. She once stood in the kitchen of her apartment for hours, staring at the knife in her hands, waiting for the right moment to use it - but begging herself to stop and think about it - she wanted to see his blood in that moment, her father deserved it more than anyone else.

Chara barely stopped herself that day.

She doesn't always want to hurt others, but its an overwhelming urge that haunts her mind enough to be a problem. She used to take it out on small animals, _cats mainly_ , they were easy enough to get a hold of. But those days of mindlessly torturing animals have long passed - they can't fight back, and that left a sour taste in her mouth most times. Besides, they weren't the ones she hated...no, they didn't even come close to her true targets.

 _Humans,_ like herself, they were the root of every single one of her problems. She hated them, she hated _being one of them_ , and everything inside of her screamed to destroy them.

Her demons...are strong, she hopes she can be stronger.

* * *

Before things got bad in her life Chara knew what it was to be loved. After all her life did not begin this bad. Maybe thats what makes it so much worse. The change from a loving life to one full of hatred and enough anger to make her want to slaughter an entire village. An eight year old child, wanting to murder...

"Theres something wrong with me," Chara says. She twirls a fallen flower petal between her forefinger and thumb. Laying flat on the dirty ground staring up at the night sky. She loves this time of night the most. Most of the lights have been turned out, allowing for the stars to shine that much brighter. She can see the constellations easily at this time, and any other time she enjoys herself by examining each one and remembering their names.

Tonight though she just stares, humming softly to herself. Shes been thinking about it for a few days now, this sudden clarity something she isn't quite used to. Her head is usually much more foggy-fuzzy, filled with random thoughts and memories; most of all the intrusive thoughts that plague her at all times.

 _'Hurt that person.'_

 _'Stab her with your fork.'_

 _'Strangle him in his sleep.'_

Her brain a mess of thoughts that she doesn't particularly want, or act on. So its unusual to say the least that she can think so clearly now. And it makes everything seem a thousand times worse. She knows, that there is something deeply wrong with her. Maybe a deformity - she remembers learning about those in health class - or a mental disorder? She thinks those might run in her family. Her mother had always displayed the signs of depression, and her older sister is a walking zombie too. _'It must be something like that.'_ she thinks to herself. Lets the petal slip from between her fingers.

 _'Yeah, It has to be that.' S_ he thinks that it can't possibly just be her fault.

* * *

Its on her ninth birthday when he dies of an overdose, its a joyful day for her, while everyone else grieves. _'He was too young!'_ or _'His poor children, they'll be so alone.'_ They would say. Chara couldn't contain her joy when she got the news, delivered via her crying Aunt Judy - her fathers sister to be precise. She smiles so wide, and laughs until there are tears and the look on her Aunts face - _Priceless!_

 **"You really are a monster,"** Aunt Judy says, grabbing her roughly by the arm. And even though there will be bruises later Chara still can't help but smile, and laugh. She would sing if she could, or do a dance, but then more attention would be drawn to her and she isn't quite that _insane_. She still has enough self preservation to avoid that, and ducks her head when the inevitable stares start turning towards her.

Judy couldn't have picked a better place to do this. Chara had been spending her afternoon tending to the meager garden nearby the Community Library, a job she took upon herself to pass the time, as well as the help the elderly librarian who had in recent years fallen too sickly to tend to it herself - and Chara certainly _did not_ do this out of the goodness of her heart. She likes the flowers, _and she likes the pocket money she gets from the Librarian every week too_.

"Right, thats exactly what I am." Chara agrees with Judy, grinning childishly. Her sides aching from the pressure of laughing so hard. She would laugh more if she could, just at the sight of Judy's bright red face. "Come on you damn brat," Judy hisses, tugging sharply on Chara's arm. It sends a shock of pain skittering up to her shoulder, but Chara bites back a yelp and follows after Judy without protest.

Aunt Judy leads her to the waiting car, practically throwing her into the backseat. Like shes nothing, like Judy has the right to touch her like that. Chara's anger rises steadily, with every passing second but she squashes down the urges that accompany it. Judy slides into the drivers seat and proceeds to blast the stereo to drown out any potential talk between them. Just as well, Chara would rather take this time to think. Eight years of this crap, and shes finally free. Its utterly amazing...

But its also on some level bad news. With her father dead and no other relatives other than Judy living in the village shes likely to be shipped off to her mothers. Which she would rather at all costs avoid. Getting out of one bad situation just to go into another...no, she'd rather that didn't happen. Though she isn't quite sure _how_ shes going to avoid it.

Running away perhaps...she had always thought about it in the past. It had always been an option, but she knew without the resources and skill she would never make it out there on her own. She couldn't even get a job due to stupid child labor laws so it was unlikely that she would last long on her own. Chara laughs, drawing a judging look from her Aunt through the rear-view mirror.

Chara smiles at her, the picture of childish innocence.

Course Judy has no reason or right to judge Chara, not when shes stood back just like everyone else all these years and let that man do those things to her. Never once did Judy make a move to stop her brother, and she knew about everything - _everything_ that went on in their apartment. Hell, her siblings knew too, Chara isn't so sure that theres a single person out there that couldn't see the evidence. Whether it be the bruises and burns on her skin or the scratches and bites on his. At least nobody could say she didn't fight back.

 _'Oh well_ ,' she sighs. Its over now, for better or for worse hes going to be six feet under soon. Even if her freedom is short lived, shes going to take advantage of every second of it. _'I wonder if it'll be an open casket.'_

* * *

 **Authors Note:** There you have it, the beginning to a very strange and probably not at all cannon compliant story...whew. Anyway I promise I don't do this whole wall of text thing too often, usually theres a lot more dialogue but I didn't have much use for it in this beginning sequence. Hope you guys like it at least! Look for the next chap in a couple hours i'm in the process of writing it.

Also I have a little bit of a weird chapter system that I use. Ever chapter has two titles, but usually they have the SAME two titles and the first title is one chapter and the other is the other chapter so-on and so-forth. I write the chapters together as one whole and basically just split them up and keep the titles for both mashed together. Its weird but it makes sense in my head.


	2. Chapter 2 Macabre

**Authors Note:** Warnings for violence, blood, and a small mention of suicide ideation at the very end. I promise its going to start getting a little less grim soon guys.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Forsaken\\\Macabre**

* * *

Its not an open casket. Mostly because the funeral is set back a couple of months to deal with the expenses, and because her father had some strange wish to be cremated. Which, to honestly think about it makes Chara wonder just how his body looked turning to a crisp, and being reduced to a pile of dust.

Oh well, at least now she has time now to think and breathe. She seems to be the only one not entirely affected by the recent happenings, but thats alright as long as nobody starts to call her out for it. Its bad enough being stuck in the house with her overbearing Aunt watching her every move. She doesn't need anyone else getting on her back about it.

They hold a small wake at the apartment building. Chara thinks its stupid to hold it this early, as if doing it now is going to help the situation any when the actual funeral comes around. A bunch of family and friends show up and hold a small dinner in the buildings rec center but Chara sticks to the back of the room, sipping Kool-aid from a juice packet she brought out from her room. She locks eyes with her Aunt for a split second and receives a dirty look before turning away. Chara smirks around the straw, wondering just how much trouble she would get in for starting a scene here and now.

But shes got more respect than that, she may hate everyone but it would be distasteful to start anything now. Besides, her grandparents are here and they are the only family members that Chara can bring herself to actually _like_. Though she doesn't see them enough to know exactly what their stance on _her_ is.

"Hi Chara," One of her distant cousins, Mira, approaches looking the picture of charm and grace. Chara has to give it to her, Mira has mostly been untouched by the impurity of their family, but she knows that sooner or later that will change. "S'up." Chara mumbles around a bite of a croissant she took from the kitchen.

Mira shrugs and motions around, "This I guess, how are you?" She asks, pleasantly. They rarely talk any time other than at these family gatherings. So Chara has no reason to be rude to her, "I'm fine." She answers back, "Is there any reason you ask?"

She looks stumped for a moment, pondering the question for a ridiculously long time. "I mean, your dad just died..." Mira prompts after so long, chewing visibly on her painted bottom lip. Chara stifles a snort and nods, letting her bangs fall over her eyes to hide her glee. "Yeah, he is."

"O-ok then," Mira stumbles over her words, frowning for a moment. Neither of them have anything much to say to each other. They never do. "Well um...How is school going?" The other girl shifts the topic, and though Chara hates small talk with a burning passion she manages to stay pleasant as she explains her lack of interest in school, and how she absolutely hates her history class. This at least seems to stifle the awkwardness for a while as they exchange stories about school.

"So have you started learning anything about the Monster war yet?" Mira questions, an excited gleam in her eyes. Likes shes been waiting to tell this story forever now. Chara shakes her head, keeping her expression neutral but her interest is certainly piqued. Mira launches into a long winded explanation, speaking rapidly with mounting intensity. Chara's head swims with all of the random information but doesn't bother asking the other to slow down.

"Everyone says its a myth though," Mira sighs, "But isn't it super cool that it supposedly happened here? They say that the people who go there always disappear, never to be heard from again. I think its a silly rumor, but wouldn't it be so cool to see an actual monster?"

Chara nods, "We should check it out," she suggest to Mira, though she would rather not have the other girl there at her side. As friendly as their brief exchanges were neither of them had the drive to be around the other in the long run. It was amazing that they had even held this conversation at all. But the possibility of seeing a real monster...yeah, that definitely sounded amazing.

Mira goes quiet, looking thoughtful. "I don't know, its not exactly safe..."

Chara knew as much, Ebott was notorious for the amount of injured hikers that came back from it, not to mention the few that had actually _died_ there in accidents related to climbing it. It had been in the news a few times, and most hikers had since been warned away from braving its dangerous trails. Chara shrugs, "Yeah, I guess so." And thats the end to their discussion about it. Mira sticks around for a brief few minutes before heading off the converse with other family members.

Leaving Chara to her thoughts. She leans back against the wall and finishes off her juice, thinking about this new bit of information. A war between monsters and humans, she could only imagine how that had gone. A bloody massacre, shes sure of it though the fact that the monsters weren't wiped out also suggests otherwise. No matter, she would likely go home and do her own research about it later.

* * *

The Wake lasts for a while longer, but Chara quickly grows bored of being around these people. Choosing to disappear back into the apartment, holing up in her room and waiting for the telltale sounds of cars leaving the complex. At least it went well enough, Chara wasn't forced to talk to people she hated, and most of her family members had ignored her besides Mira and a few distant relatives whom she only saw once in a great while.

* * *

Two months passed in a blur since her fathers death and every day since has been a celebration on her end. Though the rest of her family mopes about, her older sister more irritable than usual and her brother doped out more often than he is sober. She doesn't understand why they aren't as happy as she is, but then again neither of them had endured quite the same treatment. They got small doses of their fathers rage, while Chara took the worst of it.

Her celebrations however had come to a quick, painful ending the day of the funeral. Her mother was there. Chara knew there could only be one reason for the old womans attendance. After all, when her mother had moved away she swore never to return, not while her ex-husband was still around.

"Chara?" The woman called, spotting her daughter from across the hall. Wanting to run, but knowing it would be futile Chara turns to face her oncoming doom. "My, you've certainly grown..." people change a lot in four years, "as quiet as ever too." Her mother hums her disapproval.

They've never gotten along, but that wasn't a surprise for anyone. Elizabeth had never wanted children, she was still young when she had met Chara's father, and impressionable at that. When she had gotten pregnant she had wanted to abort immediately, and it was Chara's father who had convinced her not to. Fat lot of good it did. It certainly would have saved everyone the trouble.

As Chara grew older there were certain things that Elizabeth wanted for her, namely for Chara to adopt the same girly attitude that Elizabeth herself had. To be more feminine, and to dress in clothes that didn't obscure her born gender. Chara however had always found that she had no real reason to do as her mother wished, she was perfectly fine the way she was.

Though Elizabeth really didn't need an excuse to hate her daughter, she often blamed her lack of a relationship on the fact that they didn't have much in common. If Elizabeth were being truthful their lack of relationship would have been entirely about the neglect and verbal abuse that Chara had to suffer with until she was four.

Chara hated her father, she hated that he could so easily reduce her pure fear. But somehow, she still found more hatred for the mother whom denied her, whom could have saved her but chose not to out of her own selfishness. Yes, her father was a monster, but her mother the devil herself.

"...Are you listening to me?" Her mother questions, tightening her hold on Chara's small hand. Chara shakes her head truthfully, uncaring that she had tuned out whatever tearful reunion of a monologue her mother was probably reciting. Shes glad that there are some people in the hall with them, she shudders to think what would happen if they were alone.

Her mother sighs, but continues on "No matter, the gist is, you'll be coming to live with me now."

That isn't at all surprising but still makes Chara want to vomit. The very idea of living with her mother, its unfathomable. And she doesn't want to leave the village anyway. "Aunt Judy can't take me?" Chara asks, quiet and hopeful.

Her mother laughs harshly, "Oh honey...Shes the one who begged me to take you." Her voice is lowered, but the hallway is less crowded now that people are filtering into the reception room. Chara hunches in on herself, trying to ignore the stabbing feeling of anger in her gut. Her fingers itch to draw blood.

Those urges are rising again, acting on them here would draw a lot of attention - besides without any sort of weapon or defense she would easily be overpowered. In that moment she has two overwhelming trains of thoughts getting ready to collide; do something incredibly stupid to draw attention to herself, or run away to the flowers.

She chooses the flowers. Tearing her hand from her mothers grasp, she gasps at the sensation of dull pain in her wrist, from all those months ago when Aunt Judy threw her around like a rag doll. She doesn't focus too much on it now though. Instead she turns, ignoring her mothers shouts of protest as she takes off down the hall to the chapels front doors.

Out in the streets she narrowly avoids a collision with the familiar faces of her neighbors. Many of which she would like to teach a lesson as well. But for the moment her focus is solely on getting to the edge of town, where the flowers grow. Its here that she can take a deep breath and think. The way things are now...if she doesn't do something soon she'll be stuck in another bad situation that she really doesn't want to deal with.

 _"They say that the people who go there always disappear, never to be heard from again. I think its a silly rumor, but wouldn't it be so cool to see an actual monster?"_

Chara thinks hard on the words from earlier... a place people go to disappear forever. It sounds ominous enough, but also exactly what she needs. Besides, meeting monsters...no matter how afraid the idea makes her its still extremely intriguing. Bloodthirsty beasts is how Mira had described them, warriors with no sense of right and wrong. Mira may have been exaggerating but still...

Shes already made up her mind.

"Someday," She promises to the flowers, picking up a handful of fallen petals from the ground "Someday I'll come back to see you again."

And then shes gone, leaving a trail of petals behind her.

* * *

She changes out of the stuffy black dress and into something a little more comfortable, a simple striped sweater and brown pants, she isn't sure what she will need when underground so she packs light. Extra clothes, her hygiene products, a few sandwiches just in case things go awry and she ends up stranded. As she goes through the motions of packing things away into her little gray backpack her confidence in this plan begins to wane.

"Its not a myth," She says aloud, trying and failing to convince herself. Because if it is just a myth, her little trip is nothing but a suicide mission. Then again, suicide is still the better option. She sighs, considering writing a brief note to leave behind. She decides against it though, she doesn't need to explain herself to anyone.

With a renewed sense of determination she leaves her house, facing towards the distant mountains.

She knows that she has nowhere else to go but _up._

* * *

 **Authors Note:** I said a couple of hours and it turned into days. Wowie. Anyway I have an excuse but its literally just that I slept for a really long time, had to do homework *cough* *cough* Four late essays and two late math assignments that were supposed to be done before turkey break *cough* *cough*, and then never got around to writing this last chunk of text lol. Sorry. Anyway next chapter is entirely dedicated to the underground! Yay, finally!


	3. Chapter 3 Limbo

**_Authors Note:_** Finally getting this done, it was a doozy to write because now ACTUAL interactions are happening. Believe me, its gonna get a lot more light hearted from here on out. Also very HUGE thank you to everyone who fav'd and followed, like holy crap I wasn't expecting that! Thanks guys! Its good to know I'm not only writing for myself :D

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

 **Limbo/Healing**

* * *

In retrospect, climbing a dangerous mountain thats been said to have killed people before? Yeah, not the most well thought out idea. Chara already regrets it when her feet begin to ache. What makes it worse is that she hadn't even really thought this plan out. Whats she going to even do here? Become a hermit and live in a cave? Yeah, right. She kicks a rock away from her, watching it bounce a short distance away and then disappear down a hole. She frowns, walking slowly towards the hole.

She peers over the edge, the darkness seeming to go on forever. She moves to pick up another rock to throw it down, to see how deep it goes. When she hears the sound of crumbling rock. Her feet disappearing beneath her.

There is a moment of surprise, the feeling of falling through the air, before slamming the ground hard enough to jar her entire body. Pain zapping her head, as she groans and rolls onto her back. Eyes narrowed as she glares up at the now obvious hole that she fell into. A trickle of blood draws her attention, the sticky wet feeling of it sliding over her forehead and into her hair. No doubt staining the coppery brown, but shes more so worried about the agonizing pain...everywhere, she can't pinpoint any exact point of pain, just that shes probably going to be a giant bruise if she survives this.

She can see a flash of yellow out of the corner of her eyes. She seems to have fallen into a bed of flowers - buttercups it looks like, since they aren't quite the same shade of gold as the flowers from her village, and a few have soft pink tinges to them.

"Hey, I think I heard something..." Chara groans, straining to hear the distant voice. She twists her neck, wanting to move, but not wanting the pain to flare up even worse. "Oh my gosh," The voice says, closer now to her. She strains, and can just barely see a kid...with...fur?

"Did you fall down?" He asks, Chara wants to scoff because its pretty obvious she did but her amazement outweighs her sense of rudeness. She stares at the kid - er, goat kid, for a few seconds. Committing his image to memory. He has to be one of the monsters from the legend but theres no way that this dopey looking kid is some bloodthirsty beast.

She manages a slight, dumbstruck nod.

"Whats your name?" He asks, leaning over her, worry clear in his big eyes. He wipes the hair from her forehead and winces as she groans, the contact bringing renewed attention to the throbbing pains in her head.

"Chara," She whispers, throat dry and crackling as she speaks. He smiles softly, "Chara...thats a nice name, mines Asriel." Chara manages a small, un-ironic smile and nods her head. This kid...is too nice.

But she isn't complaining, hes the kind of nice that doesn't make her immediately think he has an ulterior motive. Kind of dumb in a way, and probably going to cause himself more trouble in the long run. But its still refreshing to not be assaulted by fake niceness or true rudeness. Especially now that shes discovered that monsters are real - and shes ultimately at this kids mercy since shes certain shes been weakened a great amount.

"Can you move at all?" He asks, prompting Chara to shake her head rapidly. _It hurts_ , and she groans again. She really doesn't want to move at all. "What if I help you?" He asks, concern painted on his face. Chara ponders for a second, then nods, swallowing down her fear. She could move, it would hurt of course, but if he could help her get started she could gather the determination to do it.

He smiles again, and places his hands...paws...underneath her arms and begins to heave her up. Chara struggles with her footing but once on her feet shes able to at least walk while leaning against him. She brings her hand up to her head to stop the pulsing pounding feeling but it does nothing. "Ugh, I feel like I got hit my a truck..." She might as well have, but she considers herself lucky to not have broken every bone in her body from that fall.

"Here, this might help." He digs in his pocket for something, and when he shows it to Chara, she laughs a little. "I don't understand..." She says, taking the object with her other hand and examining it. Its a small, vaguely bunny shaped cinnamon roll. Does he expect her to eat it?

"Well, down here, things like that recover our HP." He answers, "Doesn't hurt that it tastes good too." He snickers a little.

"Uh huh..." She looks at the cinnamon roll skeptically, but takes a small bite of it. It does nothing to help her physical wounds, but somehow, something inside of her feels much, much better. She eats the rest of it, feeling more invigorated than ever. Despite the physical pain.

"So its like medicine?" She asks, genuinely curious. Asriel shrugs a little, "Kind of, just not as gross." Chara laughs. "Oh man, you should try some Nice Cream too, its super good." _Nice cream..._ Chara isn't sure if thats supposed to be a pun or if theres actually a food called Nice Cream. "Sure, maybe after I get this patched up?" She asks, pointing to the obvious gash on her head. He winces a little, "Oh yeah, we should definitely get you patched up. Come on." He starts to lead her again.

She leans against him for support, finding it only a little odd that he insists on keeping a hold of her hand. Maybe its a monster thing. She isn't quite sure. None of this is going exactly as she planned...well, actually she didn't _have_ a plan, but if she did this wouldn't have been a part of it. Shes just surprised to find that monsters exist in the first place. Its kind of crazy. She worries a little bit that she may have hit her head harder than she thought. For once since they began walking she takes note of her surroundings. They are in a dimly lit corridor, nearing a menacingly large doorway. Chara feels suddenly nervous.

"Um..." She stops moving, stopping Asriel as well. "Whats wrong?" He asks, hand gripping hers lightly.

"Where...are we?" She asks, nervously glancing at the large, dark doorway.

"Oh!" He seems a little surprised by the question, "The Underground, don't worry I promise nobody will hurt you...I was going to take you to my mom, she always knows how to patch up an owie." Chara lets the childish use of the word Owie instead on the idea that nobody will hurt her. Certainly if all monsters were like this kid they wouldn't...but, the legend seemed to have some truth to it and because of that she doubts all of the monsters are as sunshine and rainbows as Asriel.

Hesitantly, Chara nods, "Alright." She can't really afford to pass up medical care anyways. Whatever the Cinnamon bun had done to her, it hadn't done anything for her wounds. She can feel the blood drying on her skin. Yuck.

They walk in silence for a few minutes, Chara is surprised by the strange puzzles they face in some of the rooms. Asriel explains them a bit, telling her that most monsters liked to make puzzles to pass the time. She doesn't really understand, puzzles aren't exactly her idea of fun.

"So uh...your a human right?" He asks, as they near a large, leafless tree. Chara nods, "Yeah, and your a...monster." She isn't sure if he would find the term offensive. She isn't sure why she cares either.

"Yup." He grins, wiggling his nose a bit. She takes this moment to actually take in his appearance. He looks sort of like...well, a really cute goat, though his fangs are sort of scary. And its a bit unnerving how much he also looks human, though his soft white fur kind of negates the human features.

"Theres never been a human down here before," Asriel says, "So you might not tell anyone else for now." She nods, thats a smart idea. At least until she knew what she was up against down here.

"I mean, just because they'd be curious." He chuckles nervously, scratching at his head.

"Anyway we're here, its a good thing my parents wanted to visit the ruins today. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't found you." Asriel states, seeming a little panicky at the idea. Chara doesn't know either, she certainly wouldn't have known what to do. Besides lay there in agony as she had been doing. Chara nudges him lightly, gripping his paw a little tighter.

"I'm glad you did, thank you." She whispers.

* * *

 ** _Authors_ _Note:_** If you see a typo or something that looks like a typo feel free to shout it out to me ^.^


	4. Chapter 4 Healing

**Authors Note:** This one took me less time, but a lot more thinking because I needed to figure out Charas first reaction to Toriel/Asgore. She warmed up to Asriel right away, but I attributed that to "This kid just saved me and isn't being a dick like most people I know." Also I may move this down to a T rating because I realized that this won't have that much swearing/gore and is more angst and such. Thanks again to everyone who fav'd and followed!

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

 **Limbo\\\Healing**

* * *

Asriel is normal, in all the ways that Chara thinks she is not. Perhaps, had she been given the chance she could have been like him...Or not, she can't exactly imagine being quite so cheerful. She just hopes his parents are the same as him. This has been a really strange - and really painful day for her. No need to stack on the stress.

"Wait here kay?" He asks, waiting for her to nod. Rushing off down a long hallway, returning moments later with a woman who...quite honestly looks like she belongs on the cover of a monthly cute animals calender. She and Asriel look so much alike that Chara almost has to do a double take. It still caught her off guard to see that she was goat-like, and furry, but that wasn't what most caught her by surprised.

The horrified look on the womans face was what got her the most. She looked more scared than Chara felt - fair, Chara supposes she is a pretty scary kid. Covered in blood, banged up as she is, she probably looks crazy - crazier than normal.

"Oh!" the woman breathes, kneeling down swiftly to Charas height. Chara congratulates herself on only recoiling a little bit. "Oh dear child, what happened?" Asks the woman, turning Charas head this way and that, examining the gash on her forehead.

"I...fell." Chara answers, knitting her brows in confusion. Was it not obvious? or was this family just fond of obvious questions. "Asriel, please go fetch some bandages and ointment," She says to her son, and then takes Charas small hand in her large paw. "Come with me dear," She says, leading Chara into another room with chairs, sitting her on one of the shorter ones that must have been made specifically for Asriel.

"My name is Toriel," The woman says, smiling now as she tucks a strand of Charas hair behind her ear, away from the wound so she can see it more. Chara nods, then realizes that shes supposed to say something in return. But shes honestly so dumbfounded that this woman is fussing over her so greatly that she hardly even remembers her own name.

"Here!" Asriel calls, dashing into the room like a madman, handing the roll of bandage and suspicious tube of green ointment to Toriel. Chara stares at it as she gets a glob on her finger, ready to smear it into the wound. She pulls her head back slightly, making a face as the smell of mint hits her - she isn't a fan.

"This will help keep the wound clean and free of bacteria," Toriel says softly, this time going slowly as she reaches out to touch Charas forehead. It only stings for a second, before cooling the affected area. Chara sighs, the burning hot pain in her head subsiding a little with the cool blast. She lets Toriel wrap her head without a fuss, frowning only a little when the woman insists on cleaning the dried blood off her face.

After its all said and done Chara isn't sure what to do. Shes fixed up, and shes obviously going to owe these people big time for saving her life. Toriel doesn't seem so bad now, but she has learned in her short life never to trust an adult that smiles this much. But, then again her experience was sort of skewed anyway - which she is aware of.

"Are you feeling better Chara?" Asriel asks. Hes sitting on the edge of the large wooden table, swinging his legs. He fits in so well with this place, the light walls, the cheery paintings and plants. Chara nods, "Thanks," She says, very quietly. Almost afraid to raise her voice too much.

"Mom, Chara is a human." Asriel says, after a few seconds. Chara looks up at him sharply, hadn't he told her not to tell anyone? Or had his parents not been apart of that plan. What if they got angry? Hurt her? Monsters hated humans...right? Toriel certainly looks shocked, "You fell from the top of the mountain?" She asks, voice strained. "Oh my dear child, thats terrible!" And...not what she was expecting.

"Oh dear...I think we may need to have a long talk children."

Theres no way home, shes stuck in some miserable little place called the ruins, and she got to experience something twice as terrifying as falling all in one day; Asgore, the hulking goat-man who Chara was sure would live up to the image of a bloodthirsty monster - and when she found out that he was KING? Yeah, not exactly her finest moment.

Of course they probably just thought her random outburst of tears was from stress, and Chara is willing to let them just believe that. If things are going to go well down here she can't act weak like that anymore.

After being terrified, they explained to her that she would likely never get out - great - and that she was welcome to stay with them while she healed and figured out what to do - double great - at least Asriel was good. They talked a lot that day, and let her share his room when she got too sleepy to stand it anymore.

And when she got up the next day she felt immensely better, her head no longer a throbbing mess and her fear had subsided enough to let her roam the house freely. Of course, she examined each and every exit carefully, if she needed to beat a hasty retreat.

She calmed down enough to talk to the adults of the house, enough that she started to actually - for a fraction of a second - believe that they weren't bad. Right, they all seemed that way at first. And then she spent the rest of her day following Asriel around, but he didn't seem to mind her.

Chara needed a plan of course, she knew that.

But while she waited for that plan to come to her, she decided to capitalize on the fact that for a while she is comfortable, fed, and appropriately taken care of.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** This may be my shortest chapter...to be honest I wasn't feeling it when I wrote it, and just left it short. But the next two chapters are extremely long so it kind of makes up for it. Here have some badly written Chara feels I guess? Not at all what I had planned, but works alright I guess. Might do edits on this chapter later...


	5. Chapter 5 Compassion

**Authors Note:** Keep in mind this is the second update I've done today, go back and read chapter four before this one! I wrote this chapter entirely before the last, may be some small continuance errors, but I think I connected them fairly well. This is potentially my longest chapter, as most of the rest are pretty evenly split. Its just that these two split chapters are pretty much going to introduce the main plot from here on out. As usual thank you for the fav's and follows, I really appreciate them!

Undertale does not belong to me. If it did it probably wouldn't be half as fun.

(Also please check out my One-Shot Amalgam, I'm thinking if its recieved well I'll turn it into a series, something to do in order to wind down from this angsty mess.)

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

 **Compassion/Determination**

* * *

A week later and Chara is still wondering just what the heck her new, and very strange life is going to bring.

"You know, you're super weird..." Chara tells Asriel, one day as they sit side by side on a haphazardly built swing set. If this were the surface this entire park would likely be condemned. Shes surprised really, since most of the rest of the ruins hadn't exactly lived up to the name "ruins." Its still a charming place, buttercups growing everywhere. She wonders if the entire underground is filled with these flowers.

"Huh?" Asriel looks momentarily offended, then notices Chara thin smile. She kicks her feet, swinging backward and listening to the creak of the wood and the rattle of the chains. She tries not to grip the chains too hard, afraid of getting pinched. "I just mean," She pauses to slow down, turning to look him in the eyes, "You don't have any reason to be nice to me, but you are...you saved me, I should owe you."

He goes quiet, staring at Chara, floored by the comment it seems. He giggles after a few seconds of thinking about it. "You don't owe me anything silly, we're friends." Friends? Friends...? What...? "Cat got your tongue?" Chara slowly blinks.

"You have cats down here?" She asks, lamely.

"Well, we have Catty, shes kind of a cat." Asriel answers, shrugging. Chara tucks that information away for later. She starts swinging again, facing forward. She can't look at Asriel right now, not while shes on the verge of crying. Had anyone ever called her a friend before? Yeah, she thinks so. Or at least shes had friends, who were more or less just aquaintances. Chara doesn't think shes ever had a friend whom actually called themselves her friend sincerely though.

In a way, it makes her feel...warm. A shocking feeling, but pleasant.

"So...we're friends...?" She asks, though it sounds more like an unsure statement.

"Of course! I mean, if you want to be." His cheeks turn ruddy, he anxiously rubs his hands, looking almost embarressed. Its cute, toothachingly so, but in that moment all that matters is to Chara is the absolute sincerity there.

She takes a deep, shuddery breath and for the first time in a long time smiles for real. Not any of that condecending crap she usually gives, but a true, toothy grin. Eyes crinkling up at the corners, she throws herself off the swing and barrels into Asriel. He shrieks in surprise, the both of them crash to the ground. Asriel taking most of the impact.

"Yes..." Chara whispers against his fur, "We're friends."

* * *

After their little heart to heart Chara is somewhat embarrassed. She knows these feelings won't last long. Shes been happy before, and it always fades with time. In fact, those old doubts had already begun to creep into her mind. What if Asriel met her demons? She couldn't exactly hide her rage, it came on too fast, and lasts for far too long. It caused too much damage, and she knows he will hate her if he finds out.

 _'Maybe he won't have to...'_

She shakes her head, looking up to see him a short distance away. "Hey Chara, have you ever battled before?" He asks, looking far too serious for Chara's liking. A frown tugs at her lips, she quickly shakes her head. He doesn't need to know that shes been in fights before, thats her business, to deal with alone. He perks up so suddenly that Chara thinks she might get mental whiplash.

"I can teach you! Its super fun, I mean...when its just a _play_ fight, an we don't have to hurt each other at all...Mom always says that we just have to ACT, nobody gets hurt that way..."

She lets him ramble for a minute, starting to slowly realize that he isn't talking about fighting, not the kind she understands. Battle really isn't a great name for whatever it is hes trying to teach her. Once hes finished he looks at her expectantly. She doesn't even have the time to feel sheepish for not catching the rest of his explanation. All she knows is she isn't thrilled at the idea of even play fighting, she isn't the kind to pull her punches.

"Sorry," She shrugs, cheeks hot, she hates being flustered. "Isn't it a little dangerous. I'm not healed yet."

Asriel shakes his head, "Nuh uh, its just play fighting, haven't you ever done that before, with a friend...or sibling maybe?" Ah, hes probing now, she figured this would start happening. Chara can understand his curiosity, but delving into her personal life wouldn't be a fun experience for either of them. Besides, she didn't need him running off and blabbing to Toriel about anything. Chara was lucky enough that the King and Queen had so graciously accepted her - _a total stranger and weirdo_ \- into their home for the time being.

"Of course!" She says, albeit a little too defensively as she crosses her arms over her chest. She casts her eyes around for something they could use as weapons and finds a small pile of sticks. Most are broken but a few thin ones still remain intact. She picks two up and tosses one to him. He catches it with a grin - "Alright, get ready!" He shouts, putting on a mock tough voice.

Chara giggles, and the next thing she knows a bright, angry red glow surrounds her body. A feeling of tugging at her chest, and then something most suspiciously heart shaped bursts forth from the very center. She watches dizzily as the playground around her transforms into what looks like a grid. Its terrifying, and for the second time in the past week she wonders if she may have hit her head harder than she thought in the fall.

Momentarily panicking, she examines her chest, not at all embarrassed that Asriel is standing not more than a few feet from her. Theres no hole, in fact theres nothing to really indicate that, that red thing came out of her. And she can feel the pounding of her own heart, rapidly beating in her chest, so hard she thinks it might be visible. Sweating a little she looks up at Asriel to confirm that this is really happening.

But Asriel looks perfectly relaxed, as if hes done this plenty of times. He probably has with other kids. Gosh, she isn't quite sure how she feels about this strange turn of events. All she knows is its kind of _terrifying_ to feel herself in two places at once. In her body, and in the red heart thats trapped inside of a rather small box. Okay, she isn't really sure what to do with all of this.

Asriel gives her a thumbs up as she examines the options in front of her. FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, MERCY...Strange, its almost like a game. She touches a hand softly to the floating ACT box, looking at the options that come up.

CHARA [ACT] - TALK

"I think maybe you should explain this to me." She says with a small, apparently annoyed frown. This entire experience is strange, and scary, and she can already feel her defenses rising like a wall around her. She doesn't want to go on the defensive with him, hes nice, and shes sure if he were to hurt her at all he would cry about it immediately, he had done so several times already in fact. Hes kind of a crybaby. Asriel nods, launching into a short, and thankfully brief explanation. At the end of it all Chara is left wondering if reality even exists down here. None of this should be possible - she guesses however that with magic just about anything is possible. She watches him carefully.

He said she would have to dodge his attacks...

A dozen white stars burst toward her glowing red soul. She carefully maneuvers through them easy, this is a piece of cake. Asriel had told her that she probably shouldn't put her all into it if she attacks, since humans are a lot stronger than monsters. She doesn't want to hurt him 0- really she doesn't.

But that doesn't mean she doesn't use up a lot of time staring at the FIGHT box, chewing the inside of her cheek until she tastes coppery blood on her tongue. Her arms twitch towards the box, at the last minute she slaps her hand on ACT.

CHARA [ACT] - TAUNT

"Is that all you got?! Come on I've seen old ladies attack harder than you!" A bit excessive, and she worries for a minute shes hurt his feelings. But he busts out laughing, "Get ready then Chara!" He shouts, using the stick to jab at her rapidly. She dodges his attacks, laughing gleefully. This is fun, as long as she can keep her composure.

CHARA [ACT] - TAUNT

They pass Taunts back and forth for a while, Chara dodges more of his attacks. Finding it fun, but exhausting. It isn't until he lands an attack on her that she begins to feel that familiar tug at the back of her mind. She smashes it down, but her curiosity gets the best of her.

CHARA [FIGHT]

She slashes at him with the stick, in a wide arc. Her arms tremble, trying to contain the force, but he isn't fast enough and it catches him at the very last second. He stares, wide eyed for a moment before big tears fill his eyes. Oh no, oh no she really hurt him! She quickly moves to amend her problem, his meager attacks after that far too easy to dodge, on her turn she goes for the option she had yet to try.

CHARA [MERCY] - SPARE

The strange grid falls away, leaving the two of them just standing there. Chara rushes to his side, feeling like an utter asshole for what she had done. "Asriel?" She asks, hands posed just above his injured leg, she doesn't want to touch him, doesn't want to hurt him more. In that moment it seems everything she thinks about herself is right.

"I-i'm o-okay!" He sobs a little, wiping angrily at the tears. Chara feels hot tears burning her eyes too, she scrubs them a little, refraining from letting them fall. It burns, but she feels like she deserves it. "No, I hurt you..." She mumbles, around the outraged sob she wants to let out.

He wipes his tears again, then looks at Chara. Its silent for a moment, and then something amazing happens. He smiles at her. Its simple, and small, and a little snotty from his crying but its enough to shock her out of the head space she had been in.

"Lets go see if your Mom can patch this up," Chara recommends, standing, and then helping him to stand. The both of them dust off their pants, and head steadily towards the home in the ruins.

* * *

If Chara thought that going to Toriel for help would have ended in the both of them getting an hour long lecture about fighting, and then sent to their room until dinner she probably would have found another solution. But as it stood the two of them were stuck in their shared room, trying to keep their voices low as they talked in order to not attract Toriel or Asgores attention. Chara could easily swear that Toriels hearing is better than a bats.

"I'm sorry I got us in trouble," Asriel huffs, kicking the wall with his non-injured leg. One bandage and a Monster Candy later and his other injured leg had been nearly good as new. But because her attack had been physical, and not magical in nature the gash from the stick had stayed. Toriel said it would heal fast, and probably wouldn't scar given that it wasn't much more than a little scrape. Asriel thought Chara would be relieved...she was not.

The fact still stood that she had deliberatley hurt him out of curiosity, and she had known at the time she wouldn't have been able to hold back enough. In the end she always hurt the things she liked the most.

"No, I agreed to it too." Chara admits, casually staring at her short, stubby nails. Shes been biting them down to the quick lately. Nerves she supposes. He rolls his eyes, "You don't have to be so...resigned all the time you know."

She ignores his comment, instead moving to the bedside dresser, where she knew he stashed his coloring paper and pencils. Its funny, shes only been here a week and she feels like she already knows everything about this kid. "Whatchu doin?" he asks, kicking the wall again.

"Drawi-"

"ASRIEL DO NOT LET ME HEAR YOU KICK THE WALL AGAIN!" The both of them hear, loud and clear even though Toriel is at least two rooms away in the dining room. Good lord. Chara doesn't realize shes tensed up until she looks down at the broken pencil in her hand. Embarrassed to have reacted so intensely, she tosses it aside. She could say sorry, but its not like he doesn't have a dozen more pencils like it.

"Gosh, nobody can ever accuse mom of being deaf." Asriel snickers, shifting to lay spread out over the bed instead of laying with his feet against the wall. He turns on his side and watches Chara for a few minutes. Chara waits patiently for him to start snoring or start talking, she isn't ignoring him per se, but she still isn't used to having someone around her 24/7.

Eventually the snoring starts, and she is left to color in her drawing in peace.

* * *

Dinner is...awkward, and not just because Toriel had been lecturing them not even a couple hours ago. Its because Chara can't stand this whole family setting thing. Its not the first time the four of them have been grouped together like this, however its still as awkward as every other time. Chara has spent the most time with Asriel, and the least with Asgore. Toriel...well, she sees her enough to get lectured and bandaged up but so far neither of the adults had showed her any real ill will. Its both shocking, and terrifying as she waits for the coin to flip. Any second, she thinks, any second they are going to make her every expectation a reality.

And when they don't shes left floored, stunned as she finishes off her snail soup - yuck, what the heck Toriel - and mutters a quiet 'thank you' to the goatlady. She wants to ask permission to leave the table, but as soon as she opens her mouth Toriel is focusing her attention intensley on her. Chara shuts up quickly, her thoughts turning to the obvious 'this is it, this is where they turn on me.'

"Have you given any thought as to what you will do now, My Child?" Toriel asks. All seriousness Chara relaxes when the yelling never comes. She shrugs, pursing her lips - how would she even know what to do. Shes probably stuck down here for all she knows. If the monsters can't get out then its unlikely she could either. And why would she want to leave anyway, shes found an actual friend.

Still, she isn't sure what exactly she wants. She didn't come into this with a plan, and she still doesn't have one. She slowly meets Toriels gaze, and shrugs a second time, reiterating that she has no plan. Toriel claps her hands, then reaches on toward Asgore. As if for support, this time hes the one who speaks.

"You see Chara, even a place as nice as the underground isn't safe for a lone child," He pauses to smile, soft and sweet - Chara can see where Asriel gets it from. "We would love it if you would consider staying with us, we would adopt and raise you alongside Asriel." He finishes. Chara waits with bated breath for laughter to break out, for this to be declared a joke, but when that doesn't happen...

"I-i, y-you want to adopt me? Me? As in like, oh man," She hesitates, hands clenching tightly in her lap, beneath the table. Curled into fists so tight she thinks they might fall off soon from the lack of circulation. Adoption? She would have parents? Real ones? She can't believe it right away, everyone has motives, and these two barely know her.

But judging from Asriel, maybe they really were just as caring as the impression they gave off. Jeeze, today was just full of surprises, first becoming someones friend, and now shes going to be someones child, someones sister. Its unthinkable...and apparently shes already given her answer from the amount of rapid nodding shes doing.

" _Okay_ ," She says shakily, dropping her head and letting her messy bangs fall naturally over her eyes. If they see her crying, will they think shes weak? Or would they even care. Her father...the bastard that was her father, he would have exploited her weakness in this moment. Thats what she expects, but once again, the growing trend of proving her ingrained expectations wrong comes with soft, warm arms around her. Asgore, Asriel, and Toriel are all hugging her. She feels hot tears slide down her cheeks and she laughs.

 _'This is weird.'_ She thinks to herself, choosing instead to proclaim out loud, "I'd love to stay."

And she is happy to stay, comfortable, fed, happy with a sibling that shes closer with than her real biological ones. And a mother, who is more than just an airhead trying to force her to be someone she is not. And a father, who might be scary, but has proven to be a gentle giant. She just wonders fearfully if it'll last, and if these new feelings will prove her downfall.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** I'm bad at interactions, but hey, this is all just some really good practice. The more I write, the better I'll get right? Isn't that the saying?


End file.
